Infected
by EllaFrost
Summary: Elena finds herself trapped in a comatose state with no way of telling the others what must be done to cure her. Worse yet, Jeremy must find the secret to Stonehaven, knowing full well that just knowing may kill him.
1. Chapter 1

It wasn't fair.

Jeremy had left me out again.

I paced up and down the corridor, feeling mutinous.

They say motherhood's supposed to calm you down, make you want to stay with the kids.

Not me.

I was sick of it.

Sick of them treating me like a bloody three year old, just because I'd had kids, just because I was the only damn female in this godforsaken house.

I pummeled my hands against the wall, punching a mirror, the wall, a grandfather clock.

It hurt but pain was good, pain brought me some sense of achievement, something other than being patronised.

I felt about as free as the day I realised what Clay had done to me.

And it felt shit.

I screamed as loud as I could, pummeling the wall again and again and again.

Time seemed to stand still.

I collapsed to the floor, mad with fury, enraged.

How could they do this to me?

A tear trickled down my face and I felt a sudden pain in my abdomen.

"My babies!" I yelled, feeling the stab of a knife.

Remembering that smell.

Remembering him.

"You can't have my babies!" I screamed.

Huddled over, my tears becoming quicker and quicker.

A lake.

I giggled.

A lake of tears.

And then I was falling, falling so fast the ground beneath me gave way of it's own accord.

Faster and faster and faster.

"Oh shit!" Clay muttered as Elena thrashed about underneath the bed covers screaming.

"Jer?" he yelled, hauling himself out of bed at a hundred miles an hour.

"JER!"

"I'm up, I'm up," Jeremy calmly replied, stopping Clayton's mad dash down the corridor.

"What's wrong?"

"It's Elena. She's yelling and screaming again. I think she might be delirious."

"Really? How so?"

"Jer, she was yelling about her parents a minute ago."

Jeremy's expression turned grave, every one of his few wrinkles showing.

"Clay, go get the medical kit for me."

He stopped Clay's protests with a raised eyebrow.

"She'll be fine without you for one minute."

Clay scowled before obeying, running down the stairs at full speed, his blonde hair beginning to matt with worried sweat.

"And Nick?" Jeremy said, directing this at an almost Mediterranean looking man, hidden behind the corner, "Instead of eavesdropping could you do something useful?"

"Sure," Nick said, emerging from his bedroom, looking dishevelled.

"Get your father up and get Elena a glass of water."

Nick looked suspicious.

"I'll need his advice," Jeremy replied, his worry showing, "Please Nick. Hurry?"

Jeremy walked down the corridor, almost hesitantly.

He loved Elena as a sister and to see her like this, when normally she was so strong, so annoying, was just beyond him.

Through all his time as Pack Alpha, through her rages, through her and Clay's constant intrusion into problems that, without them, would be simple, he'd been ok, known that in the end it would be all right.

But now he wasn't so certain. He'd have to put on a brave face, as he always did, for the rest of the pack's benefit.

He rushed the rest of the way, to her bedside, pulling off Clay's single coloured sheets, making sure Elena was comfortable, holding her down whilst she thrashed.

He didn't know what was happening to her, but he was damn well going to find out.

"Jeremy?" Antonio's cautious voice, normally so full of humour, called quietly from beyond the doorway.

"Come in" he sighed, leaving Elena's bedside for a second.

"My good friend, I need your advice. Elena's not getting any better and I fear..." he sighed , "I fear the very worst."

"Death?"

"No, as you and I know, death is not the worst thing that can destroy a person. I believe she's been infected."


	2. Chapter 2

At first Antonio just looked confused.

"Infected?" he muttered, "What do you mean by... Oh crap."

As recognition hit home, fear was recognizable in his dark eyes.

"But it's a legend isn't it?"

"So I thought," Jeremy sighed, "Most of the legacy is based on some truth, one fact that can't be denied but this..."

"...Is unbelievable!" Nick yelled as Clay barged past, full throttle, spilling water all over Nick.

"For God-sakes Nick it's a bit of water, Elena could be dying in there for all we know!"

Clay knocked on the door three times hurriedly, aware that the conversation was, for all intentions, meant to be private.

He didn't really care but Elena meant too much to him to obey Jeremy's orders.

Before the last syllable of "Come in" Clay was inside the room, his broad shoulders slumped in dismay as her neared the bed.

Elena was getting paler by the minute, sweat matting her blonde hair, and trickling down her forehead.

"Jer, what's wrong with her?" he asked, afraid of the answer and acknowledging the two other men's presence for the first time.

Jeremy sighed.

"It's difficult, I'm not even sure myself yet. Her pulse is still in normal range so there's no need to panic just yet."

Clay sighed and then thumped to the floor beside his bed.

"I'll stay with her," he said, "No need for you guys to stay."

"Quite the opposite," Jeremy interrupted, "Why don't you go for a run?" he asked softly, but the command still there.

As a scowl fixed upon Clay's face Jeremy continued.

"Clay, if a run isn't going to get rid of some of the anger then I don't know what will, other than the cage, which I don't really want to put you in after the whole experience with Daniel. Take Nick with you will you?"

Clay's scowl became more imminent but he uprooted himself and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him and making Antonio jump.

"Come on," he muttered to Nick, "Run, now."

As Nick protested Clay grabbed him by the collar and hauled him along for a couple of paces before Nick grudgingly submitted.

"I'm soaked through," Nick whined.

"You don't need clothes to run."

Back in Clay's room, Jeremy and Antonio were poring through the legacy looking for the right legend.

"Here!" Antonio stopped him as he almost flicked past the page.

"Thomas Grimsby," he read , "1882."

"Infected." Jeremy sighed.

"At first they thought it was the plague, come back to ravage their land, not seen since the 17th century."

"And indeed," Antonio read, "At first the symptoms were not dissimilar. Jimmy Norcross took ill on the 3rd June, with swollen glands, exhaustion and delirium. He knew not what he was saying and slept constantly, awaking only every 39th day."

"39?" Jeremy rubbed his head.

Antonio continued, "Soon though, after three rotations of this cycle he began to awake earlier. Every 23rd day."

"23..." Jeremy muttered.

"After only two citations of this Jimmy Norcross fell dead."

Antonio looked up from the book.

"Well we have some time."

"Bible numbers" Jeremy muttered.

"What?" Antonio asked?

"39 means disease, 23 means death."

Antonio's eyes widened.

"But Jer read this."

Jeremy rubbed his temples.

"I have," he sighed, "many times"

"The bit about..."

"23 people being infected in each village, and in each one of these at least three signs of possession were seen."

"Oh crap."

"My thoughts exactly," Adam said, letting himself into the room.

"Adam, what the hell are you doing here!" Jeremy exclaimed, not having seen him since the last inter-racial council and thoroughly disturbed by the appearance of an Exustio demon in his house without warning from Clay.

"Don't worry I didn't burn anything down!"

Jeremy sighed in relief.

"So what are you doing here?" Antonio asked suspiciously.

"Paige sent me," he shrugged. "Apparently Elena hasn't been in touch in a while and when she last tried to contact her Clay gave her some bull about..."

Adam's eyes fell on the bed.

"Oh." he mouthed.

A/N : Hate to be annoying folks but three reviews please :) Then a new chapter will upload itself :)


	3. Chapter 3

Jeremy was beginning to get annoyed. Adam had been on the phone for twenty minutes, and Elena was showing no sign of improvement.

Any second now he expected Clay to burst through the door, and this "meeting" would be over.

"Yes mum, I brought my Alka-Seltzer," sighed Adam, "I have to go now, yes I love you too. Bye."

Adam snapped his cell-phone together.

"So here's the score. From the moment Elena became "infected" she had 163 hours to live. Not days. The word Jeremy interpreted as day, or "dato", should actually be hour, or "hora"."

Adam looked at the book again.

"Whoever wrote this has terrible handwriting, by the way, no wonder you got it wrong."

Jeremy gave Adam a look that shut him up immediately.

"Yes, so back to the point. When did she fall ill?"

"At midnight yesterday."

Adam winced.

"You're not gonna like this."

"Tell me anyway."

"This disease Elena has contracted is similar to something my dad calls Croatoan."

Jeremy nodded and Antonio sighed.

"That island, right?" Antonio asked.

"Sure as anything."

Jeremy looked curious.

"Continue?"

Antonio flipped through the legacy, looking for more stories of the infected.

"Ok, In 1568, a man known as Sir Walter Raleigh tried to set up a settlement on Roanoke Island. Mysteriously, all of them seemed to disappear overnight."

Antonio stopped him.

"Wasn't the island next to it called Croatoan?"

"Yeah," Adam sighed, "But they never figured out whether or not the colonists went there. There are no traces of them moving there, no family trees, no documents of any time. Nothing to suggest they actually arrived there."

"So what does Robert think happened?" Jeremy asked, bemused.

"Not so much my dad, sure he agrees but he didn't come up with it... there were some demonologists who looked into it and how they vanished without a trace. If Antonio flips to the right page, sulphur was found and sulphur is a sign of well... possession."

"You reckon they were possessed?"

"Sure thing."

"So how long do we have to cure her?"

"5 days and a couple of hours."

Jeremy paled, Antonio slipped back into his chair and Clay came storming through the door.

"WHAT?"


	4. Chapter 4

Jeremy sighed.

"Clay, would you please take a deep breath and calm down?"

"Jer, _five_days, FIVE days to live and she's not even conscious. We don't even know what to do!"

Adam, paling at the entrance of this muscled panic, regained enough control of his senses to mutter "Slightly less, now you're stopping Jeremy's line of thought."

"_What _did you say?" Clay asked interrogatively, pinning Adam against the wall with a single swipe of his arm.

"Enough." Jeremy commented, calming the werewolf with one simple world.

Clay released his hand from around Adam's neck, stomping over to Elena and resumed dabbing her head with the wet cloth he'd left beside her, scowling all the way.

Adam slumped to the floor, rubbing his neck where Clay had pushed against his windpipe, sighing the whole time.

"So what you're saying," Clay mumbled, "is we have five days to cure her?"

"Yes." Jeremy sighed.

"And we have no idea how to?"

"Yes." Jeremy begrudgingly admitted.

"And you expect me to be CALM about this why?"

"Because," Jeremy calmly replied, "We have the best chance of curing her that anyone could."

"Adam, I'd like you to get on the phone to Paige and request her assistance immediately. I'm sure she has some historian friend or other that's helped her with research in the past. We need the best supernatural historian there is."

"And Pronto?" Nick uttered cheerily from the doorway.

"Nick...," Antonio sighed.

"You just got yourself a job mister." Adam laughed.

Nick turned to Jeremy, raising an eyebrow. 

"Nick. Cut the crap," Clay muttered angrily.

"This is serious Nick," Antonio remarked, raising from his chair.

"Antonio will you take Nick.."

"And comb through the legacy?" Nick asked, "What good will that do?"

"No actually." Jeremy sighed. "Nick, I would like you to go with your father and get us everything that we need for an exorcism. Yes, I know it's shame-worthy but we should try everything. Be inconspicuous."

Nick and Antonio stood up slowly, Nick muttering all the way, though secretly pleased to be of assistance.

"Adam, before you go...?"

"How long would it take Paige and Lucas to get here?" Adam inquired.

"Just what I was about to ask." 

"They hadn't heard from me so they booked Savannah a room at her friends house for the night and are currently on the Cortez plane and hating every minute of it. They should land in New York within an hour, and be here in about 2, tops." Adam smiled. "You can always count on Paige to be a worry wart." "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a call to make."

* * *

"What do you want me to do?" Clay asked, once all the others had left.

"For all that you could do, all that I really want to know is everything you have on the so-called Croatoan. Being an anthropologist, I assume it's something you might've taken interest in. Am I right?"

"When are you not?" Clay snapped, kissing Elena briefly on the cheek before standing up abruptly and making for the stairs.

"Oh and Clay?" Jeremy's voice echoed across the corridor.

"Yeah?" he asked, turning to face the bedraggled looking werewolf.

"I know you're worried, but please don't do anything rash."

"Yes, 'cause I'm a pesky kid," he muttered, presumingly to himself, "What is this, Scooby doo?"

As always, Jeremy's hearing picked up everything.

"No," Jeremy muttered as Clay walked off, slamming the library door behind him. "This is much more serious."

* * *

**Author's note:** Sorry I haven't update in a while, thanks to everyone who reads this and especially those who review. I should be updating this a couple of times soon, as I seem full of inspiration =  
Hope you enjoy! 


	5. Chapter 5

I lie here.

Here in my prison, bars too strong for me to break, hopes too low for me to live.

But still I breathe.

It's cold and dark.

All I want is Clay.

I have never wanted him quite so much, an hour ago he called to me, an hour ago I had a premonition.

It's funny, what your subconcious does to you sometimes.

I know I'm asleep and yet.. everything seems so real.

Here, here in my dreams.

So, he came to me.

A figure robed in the robes of the deepest red imaginable.

Three words, three little words that have me stuck here. "You will die. You will die."

I don't know why I've been chosen or what is going on.

All I know, is that this isn't the first time this has happened.

Memories flicker through my mind faster than a bullet pumping into someone, faster than death.

Logan. I remember Logan.

That night will stay with me forever.

A lone tear trickles down my cheek.

I am alone.

* * *

It had been an hour since they'd all assembled in her room. Shut in the stuffy library Clay was searching for an answer. Something, anything that would lead them on the right path.

Ten minutes into his search he had found something.

A sudden... something, a sense that he had known exactly where to look, although he'd never been there before. An urge to go somewhere

"Jer?" he'd yelled up the stairs, "Jeremy?"

But no answer. Good.

Once again the twins were bawling away. Clay knew Jeremy was occupied.

Good.

He wandered back into the study, wandering along to the very end of the bookshelf.

A symbol, etched suddenly into the wood by his nails, his claws.

A word. A mutter. He was in.

Along a corridor, down some stairs, feeling the air gasp out the new door. Air of centuries ago, bitter, crisp, musty.

He awoke from the trance in a room he had never seen before.

"Jeremy?" he whimpered, "Where am I?"

Ahead of him a light. A single candle.

He walked towards it, his breathing slowing as a sense of familiarity washed over him.

He reached the candle. Below it was a book, a book that could destroy Stonehaven. And he knew, he knew just what he had to do.

Off came the dust, in a single blow. To the back he flickered, to fro, to fro, here.

He stopped the pages, placed a single finger on the spot.

"Here lies Nicholas Grimsby. He who solves Croatoan forfeits his humanity. Stop now, or forever hold your peace."

An echo of a smile flittered across Clayton's face.

This was for him. This letter, tucked inbetween ancient tomes hidden below the Earth.

He retreated. Blew out the candle and backtracked through the library.

* * *

"Jeremy?" Clay yelled up the stairs, meeting him on the landing.

"Clay, I've been looking everywhere for you. You've been away an hour!"

"An hour?" Clay asked, his face twinging with confusion.

"An hour. What's that in your hand?"

"This?" he asked, suddenly noticing the letter between his fingers.

"Yes, that."

"Here, it's for you."

As soon as the letter touched Jeremy's fingers, Clay hit the floor, out like a light.


	6. Chapter 6

Jeremy's face was etched with concern.

There Clay lay, on the floor in front of him, surely caused by this letter, this crumbling old thing in his hand. And yet, he had such an urge to open it.

But no.

Not now.

Although he knew it could help Elena, he would open it as a last resort.

Jeremy paced the few steps back towards Elena's room and placed the letter on her bedside table reluctantly. He glanced over at her, lifted the cloth from the bed and dabbed her forehead gently.

He laid the cloth to rest beside the letter. He had work to do.

* * *

"Hello-o? Anybody home?" Nick's voice resonated around the house.

"Shh," Antonio sighed, "you'll wake the babies, then you'll have to deal with them."

"Me, babies, who are we kidding?"

Antonio laughed. "My son everybody."

"Who are you talking to you fruit loop there's no-one around." Nick laughed, "Come on Antonio help me up with these boxes."

"That's dad to you."

"Yeah right when have I ever called you dad? Help me with these things will you "dad"?" he continued, making quote marks in the air with his fingers.

The two of them hustled and bustled up the stairs, jostling each others arms with the various things they'd bought for the exorcism, expecting that Paige would know exactly what to do with them.

Not paying any attention, Nick bumped into Clay who laid sprawled at the top of the stairs

"Clay?" Antonio asked, putting his box down, "Are you alright?"

Nick easily lifted up the other box and carried them through to Elena's room at the end of the hall.

"Jer, what's happened to Clay?"

Jeremy stood over Elena, mopping her forehead with the cloth for the several billionth time that minute.

"Hmm?" he asked, "Oh," anxiety spread across his face once more, "I forgot about him."

Together, Antonio and Jeremy lifted Clay into the wicker chair in Elena's room.

"I know just the trick," smiled Antonio, taking something from the box nearest to him.

He shoved it under Clay's nose and waited for him to inhale.

Clay awoke with a spluttering start.

"Who, what, what the...?"

"We were hoping you could tell us," Jeremy asked, "Where did that letter come from?"

"Letter...?" he asked.

Jeremy pointed to the desk.

"I still don't have a clue what you mean." He looked puzzled.

"Clay, did you open it?" Jeremy put his face closer to his.

"Clay?" he shook his shoulder "Did you open it?"

Clay's eyes glazed over, the irises turning completely black.

"YOU SHOULD NOT ASK!" Clay jerked forward catching Jeremy offguard. "LEAVE WHAT IS UNKNOWN, UNKNOWN!"

Clay lunged to get out of the chair.

"Too bad mate," Nick pointed at the ceiling, "You got yourself trapped."

There on the ceiling was a devil's trap, from the Lesser Key of Solomon, that would prevent Clay, or whatever was housed inside him, from going anywhere.

"Now," Jeremy continued, stepping outside of the circle and pacing the chair, "I've got a few questions to ask you, but where to begin?"


	7. Chapter 7

It was safe to say Jeremy was a bit bemused by the situation. Although, as ever, possessing the image of being perfectly in control, it was simply that: an image, a facade, an untruth.

In fact, he had no idea what to ask the demon. Thoughts running through his head at about a million miles a minute did not enhance or add to the situation in anyway, it simply made it more difficult.

This was Clay. No matter what he did, what he looked like, or what was truly inside of him ,he was Clay. And being Clay, Jeremy could not allow him to be excessively hurt, not to make the demon spill, or even to make the demon release him from his hold.

And all of a sudden he knew, knew exactly what to ask him.

"Clay," Jeremy spoke very softly, almost as if he'd never said the words in the first place," keep on fighting. Elena's still here, but we need you."

He stopped pacing and positioned himself in front of Clay's body, looking directly at his eyes, black as ebony, charred bones, the twilight of a solar eclipse.

"You wouldn't, by any chance, happen to know who Clay is would you?"

The demon remained silent.

"Oh, that's right, the right to remain silent, I forgot all about that."

Again, nothing.

"See, I reckon that you only speak when I approach a dangerous subject, so what on earth is this letter?"

"The letter is a letter," the demon replied, "written aeons ago for the master of this land."

"Oh, so if I touch it nothing'll happen?"

"You are not the master of this land."

"But I own it."

"You are not the master of this land."

"But it's my pack's territory."

A snide smile crossed Clay's face, one which Clay would never assume, even dealing with mutts.

"The only one who could save you dreams away, and nothing will awake her."

"Oh really?" Jeremy asked, smiling, "I have faith in Elena."

"Then your faith is misguided."

"I see," Jeremy smiled, "so why is it a woman, what on earth has Elena Micheals, born Toronto, got to do with this?"

"That information is classified."

"Like your name?"

"That information is classified."

"See, I thought so, but I believed it would be only right to start by playing fair," Jeremy eyed the devil's trap on the ceiling, "well, fair in that you wouldn't be exorcised or injured with holy water until you failed to comply."

Jeremy smiled, drawing on a vault of strength from somewhere inside of him. Whilst he himself was not ruthless, he knew exactly how to bluff. Bluffing was an art, and Jeremy had learnt it from the best.

"So," killing time, Jeremy strolled over to the box of goods Nick & Antonio had brought back and deftly plucking a dark, wooden cross stranded on a black suede cord out. He paced back, twitching the beads in his hands, twining the cord around his fingers.

"Would you care to tell me who you're working for?"

"Working for? I do not understand the concept of work. I exist soley for my own purpose," the words came out tinny, but somehow low. It was an unnatural sound and Jeremy watched as Nick and Antonio shifted, feeling unnerved at hearing such an unnatural sound come from such a naturally close person.

Jeremy sighed. "Fine, we'll play it your way."

He turned around.

"Nick, go and see where Adam's got to will you?"

"Erm..." Nick looked flustered, "sure." He walked out very quickly, bringing Adam back within about a minute.

"Sorry that took so long folks," Adam smiled calmly, "I thought Robert might know something about our little situation, and turns out he knew about a person who'd be able to help us."

"Good," Jeremy said, "Did you make notes?"

"Nope," Paige smiled, beaming as she walked through the door, closely followed by Lucas," He brought the exact person who knew it all."

"Sped us up more like," Lucas laughed, "I've never seen someone in such a hurry."

His face froze as he saw Clay rocking back and forth in the chair, the devil's trap on the ceiling, and Elena, lying inanimate on the bed.

"Oh."


	8. Chapter 8

This was hell.

In all my life I had suffered some pretty strange things, things no other people were likely to encounter given two, three or even six lives.

And yet, this was the worst. Hands down, without even counting.

I wandered through my luminescent limbo, drifting in and out of an almost conciousness, but only within my own mind.

I was so scared.

I knew I could get out of it, but still, the hooded figures words haunted me, "You will die."

Thinking I would die seemed to make this cage around me, an imaginary constraint from which I could not escape unless I relinquished all thoughts of the matter.

And that was difficult. I was scared of dying. I was scared of life, or after-life, without Clay. I was sure there was an after-life. Paige and Lucas had not told us much that night, but for Lucas to come back from a wound as bad as that... there just had to be.

And I couldn't do it without Clay. Not even for a year. Not even for a day. Not even for a minute.

I pounded at the constraints of my world, tumbling and tumbling through sequences of images, past hauntings, things I had longed to forget.

I fell and I fell.

And as I fell I knew time was running out. I knew I had to make it, and yet I couldn't.

Stop! I thought, Stop this right now!

Blue lights flickered above me, illuminating the darkness ever so slightly.

It was time. Time to get positive.

I could do this.

Clay was in trouble, and as ever, I wanted to help him.

"Houston, we have a problem," smiled Adam, making light of the situation as always.

"Mmm," Paige sighed, "More than just a problem. I won't even begin to pretend I'm a demonologist, but as you know I've worked with a few half demons and you hear things."

"Ever the modest woman," Lucas smiled, but with none of his usual warmth. Whilst Elena was in trouble he would be the composed lawyer, the businessman who helped solve problems and situations. Normally he dealt with Cabals, but in his position, his skills could be applied to distance him slightly from the situation, allowing him to think more freely.

"What sort of things?" Antonio asked.

Paige shrugged, "Whispers, rumours, hearsay. But through the nonsense I get wisps of the truth, fine details entangled in about a million lies, so from my knowledge I reckon this should be..."

She turned to the demon

"Esus? Can you hear me?"

Clay cocked his head to the side, swivelling past the normal angle of rest proving that there was indeed something even more supernatural than a werewolf inside of him.

"Who summons me?"

Paige smiled.

"Like I said, there's always some truth to the lies."

**Author note:** I made a big mistake in that I forgot to add the actual name of the demon, so i've replaced that chapter with the same chapter but with a name for the demon. Sorry for the inconvenience, Ella.


	9. Chapter 9

"Who summons me?" he repeated maliciously.

Clay's neck clicked, his head lolling as the demon rotated it towards Paige.

"My name is not important," Paige lifted her hand, muttering slightly under her breath until her face became less visible, as if hidden behind some shadow. Her features became more hollowed, her face expressionless and her eyes haunting – stone cold, full of the malice which the demon itself was projecting.

Clay's mouth widened into a snarl-like smile.

"Pray, tell me why identity is so important to you. You question who I am, with no names returned, and whilst I try to distinguish you from Eve you cast your face in shadows." He stopped, sniffing the air before he continued. "I do not bargain with a witch," he hissed.

"You have little choice," Paige spat.

"I have the mortals," he gestured, smiling piercingly, "Perhaps they will be more entertaining...more giving." He shivered, passing his tongue over his teeth.

"Not one person in this room is mortal, and not one is better defended against your ways."

"Ah. You are cleverer than I thought."

"Oh please. The letter? The fainting? The ridiculous turning of the head? Who else would be so dramatic?"

"Lucifer himself."

Paige scoffed. "Hardly. You bluff a lot for a mara demon." She paced around the circle. "What I don't understand, is why you have so much fun playing with the mind of someone who's clearly sick."

The demon tittered - a haunting, shrill sound.

"Oh but her nightmares are the best. So clear, so vivid..." he paused, " so _haunting_."

"But they're not caused by you."

"If only."

Paige turned to the others. "This one is basically nothing. He's taken on the name of one of the druidic gods as such to make himself seem more powerful – from the impression I get he's simply feeding off her fear, emphasising it a little, and then thriving on it. He possessed Clay whenever he was getting the letter in the hope that he could get closer to Elena – ideally they like to be sat on their victims chest, he would have come out of Clay to do that anyway."

She paused. "I reckon that he's controlled by something bigger. Maybe a higher ranked demon, or a wizard or something like that. There's no way that what's happened with the letter has anything to do with him. I'll have to examine it, but it's probably a charm or a spell cast by the original writer. There's just one thing left to do now."

She smiled, looking at the demon scornfully, "Exorcise him."

Clay's head stopped swivelling. His arms gripped the chair tightly, knuckles baring, and his irises flipped to black.

"You will not send me back there."

Jeremy stepped towards him, "I beg to differ."

"I will damage him on my way out."

"Bluffing," Paige sang.

"I only want to feed on the girl. I will leave him alone. Please." He begged softly, "please, please don't send me back."

"Back where?" Nick asked.

"Hell, obviously," Lucas returned sharply.

"Holy Water and Bible please," Paige asked, in the tone of a proud surgeon.

"No problem," Lucas smiled," throwing the requested items towards her.

"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica"

As Paige began the demon began to scream, a haunting, wailing scream that caused everyone to plug their ears with their fingers.

"No, please, please, no, don't"

"omnis incursion infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio,"

As Paige uttered the words Clay's head flipped back, pointing upwards at the ceiling. A stream of black began to trickle out of his mouth upwards, gaining pace to try and escape, but having no luck due to the demon's trap. "Et secta diabolica," as Paige uttered the final words," it churned upwards at a ridiculous pace, as if Clay was a water fountain.

Clay's head fell and drooped, before he opened his eyes, looking around groggily.

"What's with the ropes?" he snapped, "And what the hell have you done to my ceiling?"

"Wow," Nick smiled, "So you really don't remember anything."

"What do you think wise guy," Clay spat.

"Well this could be fun," Nick smirked.


	10. Chapter 10

Every time I resolve to escape this strange place I reason can only be within my head there seem to be obstacles thrust in my way.

It feels like I've been chosen for some absurd form of torture where my worst nightmares are thrown before my eyes to keep me in submission. Images of Kate and Logan dead in their cribs, a hooded figure stood above them, feasting on the small life force their bodies contain. A group of mutts assaulting Clay and for once, him losing. A toothy-grinned half demon stalking my pack, my family, drawing closer, nearer, learning their weaknesses only to exploit them leaving me alone.

I know that these things are unlikely. I know that we are well protected. I know we have allies elsewhere. But something keeps pulling up the dregs of any subconscious fears which may lurk within to prevent me thinking positively. Brings up my regrets, my life before Clay, the night I was bitten, the days where I had to hide who I was in order to co-habit with a mortal.

Yet it doesn't consume me entirely. Somehow I have realised that if such pressures are placed on me to keep my thoughts negative, there must be some escape in hope. And if something can infiltrate my mind, perhaps I can infiltrate whatever is doing it back.

I hold on to a tiny shred of hope, flicker images through my brain and project them outwards. I envisage Kate and Logan sleeping, the way Clay sometimes looks at me when he doesn't realise I'm looking and of my adopted Stonehaven family boisterously playfighting. I picture this forming a blue bubble around me, which expands, pushing some of the red, the black, the nightmare images back.

I don't know if this is the result of my hope, or of something the others are doing. Whichever it is, it appears to be working. Not completely. But anything which gives me hope will surely make me stronger.

* * *

"How can you not remember anything?" Nick scoffed, "Surely you must have some pain from the fact your head was turning round at insane angles?"

"Shut up Nick, don't be stupid," Clay responded, "All I know is that I was trapped in there and I wanted it the hell out of my body."

"Did you hear anything?" Paige asked carefully.

"Bits," Clay replied, "enough to know that I was an idiot to pick up the letter, and that I could have made the situation one hell of a lot worst for Elena." He scowled, kicking the chair, "Nick. Untie me."

"Jeez, you're demanding today."

"SERIOUSLY Nick, I swear...!"

"Enough," Jeremy intoned. "This is important. Of course we'll untie you, but in a moment." Clay scowled. "Do you remember anything at all of what you said or what Paige asked you?"

"No. I just remember feeling locked up inside my head. It was horrid."

"Imagine how Elena feels,"Lucas sighed, casting his eyes towards the bed.

Paige gave him a warning look.

"It's alright Paige, I won't slaughter your boyfriend I promise."

Lucas scowled. "I think I'm a little more than that."

"I don't think labels are particularly important right now," Jeremy emphasised by pointedly looking over first at Elena, then back to the letter, "Now I know that I can't touch the letter, as whatever enchantment is on it makes it impossible for anyone but the, 'master of the land,' to open and read it. I wonder if Clay would have been able to open it were it not for the Mara demon taking advantage of his susceptible state."

"I doubt it," Adam intoned, "He wouldn't have passed the letter to you, or fainted when it touched your hands if that were the case. But if you're not the master of the land, it begs the question who is. Theoretically we could pass it round the room and see who doesn't faint, but I'm not really a fan of the idea of curing more of your werewolf fans from possession. If one demon's lurking around, it's pretty much a certainty that others are lurking, and not all of them will be stupid enough to be tricked into walking into such a lovely trap."

"Well that's a shame," Clay stated, "I would have loved to see Nick being made to vomit the contents of his stomach. But I can probably achieve that without a demon."

Clay stopped on a sigh from Jeremy. "Lucas, do me a favour and untie Clay will you? But keep him away from Nick."

Lucas smiled, "No problem," he muttered something under his breath and the ropes removed themselves from around Clay's arms, legs and torso.

"Thanks," Clay grunted, nodding his approval to Lucas.

"Now, we have to deduce what Esus meant by looking at Elena whilst mentioning the master of this land. Theoretically she has no claim to Stonehaven, except for being Clay's. And even then, it's likely that Clay would inherit any land off me."

Nick muttered under his breath. Clay smirked, "Come on, I could take you easy Nick."

"We'll see."

"Enough. So then perhaps it's not to do with physical ownership of the land. Perhaps it's to do with the fact Elena has children, or a spell that marked a woman werewolf out, or the fact that she has something unknown coursing through her blood."

"I'll run some spells over the letter to try to deduce what it is," Lucas said, "Meanwhile I'm sure Paige is longing to get at your girl to try and figure out what kind of demon is inside of her, or what spell is making her act this way. A little so she can get it out, and a little for education purposes I imagine," he smiled teasingly at Paige.

"More for Elena's sake than anything," she punched Lucas lightly on his upper arm. "And I'm sure Adam would be willing to help me."

"Wouldn't dream of allowing you to have all the fun by yourself," he smiled.

"I have a feeling it's going to be a very long night," Nick muttered.


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry it's taken so long for me to write any more of this, have been sucked into my law degree. Decided to write a couple of chapters while I have some time off**.

* * *

Something has changed.

I pause amongst the chaos that has become my mind, knowing that something is different. The vivid images of being tied to a tree and flailed have disappeared from the edges of my consciousness and I have been brought back to darkness, filled with blue mist.

The worst part of this is that I know they are out there, trying to get in. I can feel prickling up my spine, in my head. It's as if something or someone is trying to contact me, yet I just can't reach them. Like a donkey, I run after the carrot but reaching it continues to perplex me. I still cannot move my body. The images of torture have somewhat dissipated, but the silence that remains consumes me. In some ways it is worse. If only I could rid myself of this, be out there.

"_Elena?"_

A voice, in the silence. Yet I still cannot move my mouth.

* * *

Elena's body shuddered in the bed, causing Clay to look up in concern.

"Paige, you better not be hurting her."

Paige looked pale, a bead of sweat had trickled down from her forehead and was slowly descending down her nose. She was knelt next to Elena, her hand on the back of her head, casting spells intended to penetrate the mind, plant ideas in people's heads, communicate with the comatose. After the last cast of a telepathic communication spell, Paige had felt the grasps of success, seen an impenetrable black space, swirling with blue mist, before being catapulted back into Stonehaven.

"I don't understand," she muttered.

"What is it?" Jeremy asked, causing Lucas to stir from his own casting to ensure Paige's safety.

"I can feel it in me..." she said weakly.

"Stop casting then!," Nick proclaimed, "as much as I enjoy safeguarding unconscious women, we don't have enough manpower to lose you too."

Paige glanced up.

"...and there's the added disincentive that you're taken."

"So is Elena," Clay spoke gruffly.

"I don't know, we've had some fun," Nick smiled cheekily.

Clay growled, stopping only when Jeremy cast him a "this isn't the time" look.

"I just, don't get it..." Paige continued, "Lucas - I feel the click as if it's successful and I get an image as if I'm making a connection," she shuddered, "and then I'm cast out and all I can see is Stonehaven."

"Have you managed to communicate at all?" Lucas inquired.

"No, I just see a black emptiness and blue mist and then I'm back."

Adam looked contemplative. "Does it feel like you're deliberately thrown out, or that you're magic has stopped working?"

Paige began to look offended.

"Paige, just humour me and Lucas stop glaring at me."

"I suppose it's as if it just stops when I finally reach where I'm supposed to be."

"And can you hear anything?"

"No, it's just an image."

"Do you feel anything?"

"Just...," she looked uneasy, "despair," she turned away from Clay, "and anger, fuming anger."

"Adam, what are you thinking?" asked Jeremy.

"Have you heard of vengeance demons?"

"I thought they were a myth, a cult thing," Nick inputted.

"I have only heard of them as fleeting rumours I suppose," Jeremy answered, "I presumed it was more of a description of the desire of demons to cause chaos than as a demon itself."

Adam shook his head. "Robert was never sure, they always seemed more like stories than reality. Is there a reason that Elena could have been _really_ mad at you Clay and Stonehaven?"

Clay muttered, "No."

Jeremy looked down, "When Clay turned her...all she wanted to do was get revenge on us. Be human again. She would have given anything...but she was in the cage. She couldn't have spoken to anyone about it and after she got out she didn't want anything more to do with it... I can't imagine her telling anyone about it when she lived with Philip and kept it quiet for so long. And now she's settled, enough to consider running the pack, although she's certainly not happy with the idea."

"She didn't necessarily need to communicate," Adam stated, "if the rumours are true she could have been sought out, her anger discovered and her deepest wishes twisted. Vengeance demons are supposed to love nothing more than chaos."

"And what better way of causing it than waiting until she's settled at Stonehaven before exacting her revenge at Clay and you by pulling her into a coma, making you concerned and letting your guard down," Adam noted.

"We haven't lowered our guard." Clay grunted.

"We have, but I don't see why we needed it up anyway."

Lucas' face lit up in a panicked recognition, "I can't destroy this letter. Elena is the only female werewolf. What would happen if this letter got out there and people discovered Elena was to be the Pack leader. What leadership challenges would you face?"

Clay's face blanched. "She would become more of a prize than ever. And if I couldn't defend her. She's comatose. They could kill her, or worse, do what they wanted to her and then kill her."

The room fell silent.

"Let's hope that's the only copy," Antonio murmured.


End file.
